Flames slip past Blues by the Finn of their teeth

Roman Cervenka beats St.Louis Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak for one of his two goals on Sunday.

Photograph by: Christina Ryan
, Calgary Herald

Officially, this was one of seven games on the National Hockey League docket Sunday.

And there, out on the Scotiabank Saddledome ice, was theoretically the setting of the night’s action.

But high above the ice, tucked into a booth at press-box level, had sat Calgary Flames general manager Jay Feaster — where the real action was.

Or was not.

Depending on your level of patience with this group.

With the Flames buried on the Western Conference table, with few untouchables on their roster, with the April 3 trade deadline fast approaching, something is bound to happen. Right? Right?

And while Jarome Iginla’s wishlist of destinations — reportedly Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins (who pre-emptively acquired another rental winger, Brenden Morrow, earlier in the day) — floats around the Twitterverse, motivation for change in Calgary has never been keener. Or more high-profile.

Yet, Feaster’s sizzling BlackBerry aside, there are no transactions to report.

But the Flames did manage to distract their fans and the hockey world — briefly — by shading the St. Louis Blues 3-2, on the strength of Miikka Kiprusoff’s netminding and, yes, Iginla’s scoring.

Iginla, at 12:58, of the third period, misfired on a breakaway — with Wade Redden in hot pursuit — but regrouped and levered a sharp-angle shot past Jaroslav Halak.

Outshot 38-17, the Flames picked up their seventh straight win on home ice — the counterweight to their nine-game losing streak on the road.

The Flames, who led 1-0 and 2-1 by periods, got also two goals from Roman Cervenka.

Replying for the Blues were T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Sobotka, who (briefly) deadlocked the game with a garbage goal at 4:48 of the third period.

Of course, none of this happens without the Flames goalie.

While Kiprusoff — with his 3.54 goals-against average and .866 save percentage — had come under fire lately, he was stellar on this night.

Twice, in the early going, he parried shots from Blues captain David Backes. A sign of things to come.

When Andy McDonald weaved to his doorstep, Kiprusoff blocked that, too. For good measure, he made a save on Alex Pietrangelo, who had uncorked a dangerous against-the-grain wrister.

Kiprusoff’s seven first-period saves allowed his chums to get on track offensively.

The Flames managed to pile up a couple of good belts — Blake Comeau on Chris Porter, Curtis Glencross on T.J. Oshie — en route to out-hitting the guests 9-2 in the opening 20 minutes.

But it took nearly half a period — 9:53 to be exact — for the Flames to put a single puck on Blues netminder Jaroslav Halak.

On that sequence, Blues defender Roman Polak took the opportunity to deck Matt Stajan at the net’s side. Off he went for roughing.

And the Flames made him pay.

Dennis Wideman fed a pass to a breaking Cervenka, who snapped a high shot to the short side at 11:13.

Amazingly, through a shabby season, the team’s power play has remained strong — eighth overall, and that was before Cervenka’s handiwork.

And it was certainly good news for Cervenka. In the past eight games, he’s been scratched three times — and went point-less in the other five.

Kiprusoff’s value did not dip in the next period — a 20-minute span in which the hosts were outshot 19-4, yet hobbled into the second intermission holding a one-goal lead.

The Flames goalie was solid, making a handful of dandy saves — including a trapper grab on a hard shot from David Perron and smothering a tip from Alex Steen and, why not, a couple more saves on Backes (who, through 40 minutes, had put five fruitless attempts on the Calgary net).

Kiprusoff’s excellence allowed the Flames to push ahead 2-0.

Midway through the second period, Mikael Backlund, heading to the bench for a change, pickpocketed Oshie at the St. Louis blue line and tapped the pass through to Jiri Hudler. Quickly, Hudler found his countryman and Cervenka, deking to his backhand, finished the snazzy sequence at 9:40.

The guests cut into that lead exactly seven minutes later.

Curtis Glencross and Oshie had been sent off at 14:33 — the former for cross-checking, the latter for unsportsmanlike conduct. Sprung two minutes later, Oshie stole the puck from Wideman. Zooming into Calgary territory, he flung a puck that somehow got through Kiprusoff’s gear.

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